February 2, 2023

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MOTHERS UNDER SIEGE IN ARTSAKH CALL OUT - HUMANITARIAN EMERGENCY BRIEF - FEBRUARY 2023

Dear friends,

Today is already the 53rd day since the start of the blockade in Artsakh / Nagorno-Karabakh.

It appears that 120,000 people under siege and starving is still insufficient for effective global action. For many, the crisis is not concerning enough. And yet, it is now that global concerted action must be taken! Otherwise, the next chapter will be very violent and even more dangerous.

The whole Caucasus region and world will be deeply affected if the indigenous Armenian Christians of Artsakh are not protected before it is too late. The same way you cannot bring back time when there are delays to humanitarian action, you cannot reverse death by ethnic cleansing.

Genocide is what mothers of young children fear today as they see no end to this blockade. Starvation and malnourishment are no longer up-and-coming concerns; they are the reality of a calculated siege that is being legitimized by Azerbaijani government policy and inaction by the international community.

These mothers cannot afford our words and letters of appeal anymore. Their children need food, medicine, heating, schools, and a guaranteed right to life with dignity and security.

This first emergency humanitarian briefing by The Zovighian Partnership (ZP) Public Office is written in the words of these mothers. It expands the arguments presented in a call to activate United Nations Security Council Resolution no. 1325 that my colleague, Siranush Sargsyan, and I published in Newsweek last week. And its tone, its urgency, and its moral imperatives build upon my statement at the IRF Summit 2023 in Washington D.C. this week.

I hope this is the first and last humanitarian briefing the ZP Public Office shares with you. But at this rate, it might be far from our last.

With my deepest respects,

Lynn Zovighian
Co-founder & Managing Partner
The Zovighian Partnership
On behalf of ZP Public Office